Time As We Know It
by MintaClaire
Summary: When Timelords arrive from a parallel universe, The Doctor will need all the help he can get. But things and people start appearing from the rip that they created, including some old enemies, and a even familiar blonde. Post-Season 6.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: okay so this is set after season six. The only thing I have to say is that all the ships that were in the series, remain together. I can't promise that I won't add any romance, but I am not going to break up the ships that were previously established.**

The Doctor was interrupted from his work by the incessant ringing of the TARDIS phone. He knew exactly who it was without even looking at the caller ID. Only one person could be calling straight to the TARDIS, seeing as he had rerouted all other calls to her phone. Talk about marrying your secretary. Or maybe it was him turning his wife into a secretary, he wasn't sure which. That was the problem with traveling through time. You never knew what event went where. The phone rang again, shaking him from his thoughts. The Doctor grinned and picked it up.

"Hello Sweetie," her familiar voice came over the phone before he even had the chance to speak. He missed that voice. It had been a while since they had last met; at least, it had been for him. He had no idea what point of her timeline she was calling from. "It's getting _really_ boring in this cell. If you don't come and pick me up, I might have to resort to using my hallucinogenic lipstick. Assuming you know why I'm locked up, you really wouldn't want me to do that." Apparently it had been a long time for her as well. At least he now knew that she knew they were married. Time was so confusing, especially if you keep meeting in the wrong order. He hoped that she was bluffing about the lipstick, but with her, he could never be sure.

"River, I am in the middle of a very important project. "He smiled "I'll come and get you when I'm done. Hopefully I'll get there soon, but if I am a little late, try _not_ to make out with anyone"

She told him the date and time from which she was calling, and with that, she hung up. The Doctor got back to work, rigorously pressing buttons, turning knobs, and fusing wires together. Half an hour later, he shouted "Got it!" not really sure who he was talking to. He ran excitedly to the console of the TARDIS and pressed a small rectangular button. Music blared from all around him. He smiled at his work, and went to pick up River.

River sat on the cot, staring blankly through the bars of the storm cage. Boredom. That was what you got for marrying the Doctor. Sure, he claimed that it was her fault for ending up locked up for the rest of eternity. After all, she _had_ been the one that killed him. But the Doctor didn't understand. If River hadn't married him, she would never have had to kill him. She would have let time rip itself apart, never touching him. She was locked up because she loved him, waiting forever for him, and living for the small amount of time she spent with him. It was never enough, especially when he was more than three hours late to pick her up. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. She missed the days when she could just press a button on her vortex manipulator and transport herself out of the cell to go see him. Ever since she had created the alternate timeline where every moment in history was all mashed into April 22, 2011 at 5:02 pm, it had been broken. She would have to remember to have the Doctor fix it, because now her only way of seeing him was to call him up and beg him to bail her out. She thought about using her hallucinogenic lipstick, but decided against it. The Doctor would arrive soon… She hoped.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the TARDIS materialisng next to her. Her eyes fluttered open and she stood up excitedly. The blue box flashed in and out of existence as she rushed to stand across from what appeared to be the door, fixing her hair as she went. The Doctor was here, just as he said. The TARDIS finally solidified completely, and after a few seconds, the door opened. He stepped out, wearing his usual grin, and a bright purple bowtie, his hair askew and all over the place. River took a step closer to him, chuckling under her breath at how eccentric he looked.

"Hello Sweetie" she said in her best attempt at a sexy voice, but it came out sounding just as it always sounded. She cracked a smile and, he smoothed down his hair, suddenly becoming conscious that he looked a mess.

"You look absurd!" River laughed, reading his thoughts. "And, _what_, would posses you to wear that bowtie? It is so bright it could be seen from space!"

She walked up to him and began untying the bowtie flirtatiously. He protested, moving her hands away playfully, but she got it untied. He started to say something clever, like "Bowties are cool!" but it came out as a mumble of sorts due to the fact that she pulled on the two ends of the bowtie, bringing him down to her level, and pressed her lips to his. The Doctor stood still for a moment, debating whether he should give into temptation. He knew they would both end up getting hurt in the end, but he told himself he was doing it to make up for what a horrible life she had had. Although he knew that wasn't the real reason, he gave up the argument about his choice of neck ties and kissed her back, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her closer. River made a mental note to use this strategy to get him to stop talking as she tangled her fingers in his long hair and deepened the kiss, pushing him up against the TARDIS.

They were interrupted by a weak cough coming from behind River. They reluctantly broke apart, and looked to see who it was. Standing outside of the cage, looking through the bars, was a guard with a look of utter surprise plastered onto his face. The Doctor's face turned red as he stepped behind the TARDIS, trying to hide himself. River realized that the guard thought the Doctor was dead and quickly pulled out a vial of golden-yellow dust from her belt. She poured a little into her hand, and said "sleep tight" as she blew it onto the guard. The guard collapsed onto the floor in a heap.  
>River dragged the still red-faced Doctor into the TARDIS, explaining that the powder would wipe his short term memories so that he would not remember ever having seen the Doctor.<p>

Once inside the TARDIS, the Doctor, now back to his normal skin tone, started pulling levers and pressing buttons. The sound of the TARDIS dematerializing could be heard as he flew them out of the Storm Cage, all the while, River commenting on how horrible his flying skills were.  
>"Leadworth 2014" the Doctor announced as he pulled a lever and made the TARDIS materialize. He waited for her to go outside, but she stood there with her arms crossed, not budging.<p>

"You brought me to see my parents?" she asked, clearly annoyed that he had the audacity to ruin what she had assumed was a date. She cursed under her breath, realizing that she had given them a sort of tracking device to let them know when she came into town.  
>"Sorry! It was the first place that came to my mind!"<p>

"Fine, but we are not going to see them just yet" She sat down on the steps leading up to the console indignantly. She knew they would show up soon enough anyway. "Besides, knowing you, we probably ended nowhere near Leadworth." The Doctor detected a trace of hope in her voice, but he pretended not to.

"Now, first things first" he said as he sat down next to her. He pulled his blue TARDIS notebook out of his small jacket pocket. River couldn't help but smirk. Of course his pockets were bigger on the inside. She pulled out her own matching notebook and they compared stories.

Although River had not yet been through many of the adventures the Doctor had named, and vice versa, they amazingly both knew about their wedding. River feared the day when he didn't know that they were married. It would become so much more complicated then.

They sat around in the TARDIS talking, not really wanting to leave for fear of running into the Ponds.

"Out of curiosity, what was it that you were working on when I called? I hope it was something important, because you were three hours late to pick me up. I was beginning to think that you _wanted_ me to make out with the guard on duty." River said

"No," he chuckled a little too quickly." It was definitely worth it. Inter-Galactic Radio. Now I can play any music from anywhere in the galaxy whenever I want!"

River rolled her eyes. "Oh great! My husband was late to pick me up because he wanted free reign over all the music of the universe!"

The Doctor grinned cheekily as he stood up and brought her over to the console. He made a dramatic presentation of pressing the small rectangular button, and looked very excited when a slow song came on. He held out his hand cheesily and asked "Would you like to dance?" River lifted one eyebrow in a quizzical look, but obliged and took his outstretched arm. **(AN: No, I am not bringing back the dancing metaphor from The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, this is just my way of bringing out the Doctor's childish personality)** She missed spending time with the Doctor. He couldn't come to see her much anymore due to the fact that everyone thought he was dead. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"Now, where were we?"

Before he could answer, they heard an obnoxious, loud knocking on the TARDIS door. River mumbled something about never getting any time alone as the Doctor, happy to get away from his desire to snog her right there, rushed excitedly to the door. For a 1186 year old, he could be such a little kid. He had the door knob halfway turned before River had cut in front of him.

"There are only three people other than yourself that know you are alive, and I hardly doubt my parents would knock" She removed his hand from the door, and dragged him over to the console, pulling up a picture on the monitor. The Doctor's face paled when he saw what was on the screen. River glanced over to find herself almost as surprised as the Doctor. Based on his reaction, she had been expecting to see a dalek, or some cybermen, or maybe even an irate ginger and roman, but when she looked at the screen, all she saw was the Doctor. The Ninth incarnation of the Doctor. And behind him stood four people in long robes. Her Doctor whispered one word and she knew it was all over.

"Time Lords."

**Yay! First chapter done!, I am completely open to criticism. As you have probably figured out by now, I am not British, so if I misused any British words or spelled them wrong or if something doesn't make sense plot wise, or even if I have a grammar mistake, tell me in a review and I will honestly go back and fix it. The next chapter will be up soon, because I hate when people leave cliff hangers, so I will try not to do that to you! Anyways, please review, it will really help me know what to fix!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so here is my next chapter. Thanks to ephemeral violet for reviewing. I really appreciate it, and to answer the question is the next installment :D I hope it makes a bit more sense now!**

For once in his life, The Doctor was both still and silent. There was no was this could be happening. The other Time Lords had been destroyed, locked away in the Last Great Time War. And besides that, his Ninth incarnation had only come to be _after_ he had completed the time lock, not to mention that back when he was in his Ninth, he had never met his future self. That was strictly against the rules of time.

Yet, when the Doctor looked at the screen, he saw his Ninth self, standing in front of four other Time Lords. The thing that scared him the most though, was not the fact that they were all there, but who they were. The people standing behind 'him' were none other than the four Gallifreyans who had shaped the Doctor's life. Drall, who had been the Lord President at the time the Doctor had first run away, Rassilon, who was the Lord President that had turned the Gallifreyans to time lords, The Master, who no matter how many times the Doctor tried to kill him, he always came back, and The Woman in White, also known as Susan Foreman, The Doctor's Granddaughter, all stared piercingly at the Doctor through the screen, as if they knew he was there. The Doctor relayed their names to River, and with each one, her face paled even more. She had heard of each of them, and how they each meant trouble for her husband.

"Sweetie," she asked, "why is your past self standing outside your TARDIS, _along with four of the most influential Time Lords to ever exist_?"

"How did you know that was me? You never met my ninth incarnation, have you?" The Doctor babbled, worried that he was having severe memory loss, or that bits of his memory had been taken. Surely he would have remembered meeting River. It would explain why he didn't remember meeting his future self.

"Of course I haven't!" The Doctor relaxed. "I did a little research with the help of the TARDIS. She showed my all of your past forms, and bits of your old adventures, and even a couple of companions. Looks like I have some competition!" River laughed.

The Doctor's face flushed a bit, completely forgetting about the situation at hand. "So you know about…" he trailed off.

"The scarf, the celery, the recorder, Rose, the Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis, although the TARDIS had to explain that one to me, Romana, Ian, Barbra, Ace, Sarah Jane, you name it. Memorized all the TARDIS told me. What else am I supposed to do when I'm stuck in a cell all day? But Doctor, you are missing the point. _Why_ are your past self, Rassilon, Drall, The Master, and Susan all standing outside the TARDIS?"

"I have no idea, but I intend to find out!" The Doctor grinned.

The Time Lords knocked again and The Doctor thought for a moment trying to come up with a plan. He couldn't just fly away, never to see the Time Lords again. If they were back, something must have been wrong with time and he had to figure out what. But he didn't want to give himself away. He had a feeling that they didn't know who was in the TARDIS, after all how could they? Suddenly he grabbed River's arms, shouting "I've got it!" and then disappeared up the TARDIS stairs. He came back a moment later carrying a small, complex, futuristic gun. "We play it dumb! Act as if you have no idea what they are doing out there, and as if you just stumbled upon the TARDIS by accident" River nodded, still a little weak at the knees from surprise and fear, but now that he had a plan, she stood up straighter. The Doctor turned his gun upside down and pointed it at himself, pretending that was how it was supposed to be held. He would have looked pretty menacing to anyone who had never seen that type of gun. He and River opened the door slowly. There they all were, standing there impossibly, staring right at River and The Doctor.

"I h-have a g-g-gun and I'm n-not afraid to use it" The Doctor stuttered. The Other Doctor addressed him first. He seemed to be the leader of the group, which perplexed the Doctor because of the company he was in. Rassilon was one of the most powerful Time Lords to ever exist, not to mention he had been a Lord President.

"Well that's very good that you have a gun. It means that recognize that we are a threat to you, which means that you probably know that you are holding your gun wrong. It's best to give up this act now, so we can all get some answers." The Other Doctor beamed in that all-too-familiar way.

The Doctor was stunned that they had seen through his ruse. Usually, when he put his mind to it, no one could ever tell if he was faking it or not, even River. He felt a twinge of pride that The Other Him had figured it out. It proved that this was the actual Ninth Incarnation, not just a Teselecta or a Slitheen. This man had the exact same personality as he had had, although The Doctor knew for a fact that he had not grinned like that until he met Rose.

The Doctor shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He stood up a little straighter and dropped the act. He took River's right hand in his left, and held the other out to The Other Doctor.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, but not just any doctor, I'm THE Doctor. Now I know you are going to say that I can't be the Doctor, because you are the Doctor, but believe me when I say this, I'm you and you are me. Well, not yet, but eventually you will be me, so don't worry. I'm you from the future! The odd thing is, I don't remember ever having met myself, so I might have to wipe your memory after we sort this all out. But don't worry, it all works out in the end because here I am. Tada! Now would you mind explaining why there are other Time Lords here? Oh! Speaking of which, this is my wife, River, she is kind of a Time Lord too."

The Other Doctor's jaw dropped while the other Time Lords stood in bewilderment "H-How do you know to call me the Doctor? There is only one person that has ever called me that. Her name is Romana. All call me Theta. Wait a second, if you are the Doctor, and you think I'm the Doctor, then that must mean…"He turned to the other Time Lords, beaming. "It worked! We made it! We still have a chance"

"But is it safe? This world is so small. I guess we could dispose of the stupid apes and start anew." Rassilon spoke for the first time, glancing around at the humans. He turned back to find a very confused and annoyed Doctor.

"Now hold on just a moment. These humans are not 'stupid apes'! Before you do anything, you've got some explaining to do. What do you mean you are not the Doctor? You look and act exactly like I did!"

"I am you, but we all came from a universe parallel to this one"

_~Flashback from Theta's POV, set on the parallel universe he grew up on during The Last Great Time War~_

**(AN: This is **_**not**_** the same universe that Rose and 10.5 are on in case anyone is wondering. It is a completely separate one.)**

_They didn't stand a chance. The Gallifreyans knew enough to realize that the Daleks would exterminate everyone. The universe would cease to exist, every last Time Lord and Time Lady destroyed in The Last Great Time War. If Gallifrey didn't find a way to stop the Daleks, everything would die, including them. The fate of the universe rested on their shoulders. The Daleks were coming._

"_**Will all members of the Time Council please report for an emergency meeting." **__ Romana's voice boomed throughout Gallifrey. Her voice came out calm and even, but Theta knew her well enough to detect the subtle trace of fear hidden behind her confidence. At least her manner of speaking was able to calm down Gallifrey, if only for a moment. After all she was the Lady President, everyone listened to her._

_Theta reached the top room of the large, majestic building at the center of the frantic city. He was the last of the council to arrive, which was surprising. He had run an awful lot before returning to Gallifrey, gone on many adventures, but of course, when Romana had called for his help in with The Last Great Time War, he couldn't resist the adventure. And now, here he was, a member of the Time Council._

"_We have a problem" Romana addressed the council in her princess-like manner, which had still remained with her, even after regeneration."The Daleks are coming, and for once, I don't know what to do."_

_Theta tuned out the loud discussion that followed. After all, the only person in the room that had any interest in what he had to say (other than Susan) was Romana. The rest all thought of him as the boy who ran. All of the arguing was making his head hurt, not to mention the fact that he had just recently regenerated into his Ninth Form. He knew he was going through his regenerations faster than most, but at least the others had been worth it. Not this time though. He had been sent on a mission to spy on the Dalek ships, but had gotten 'exterminated' when he had been caught. He had barely made it back to Gallifrey before he had started to regenerate, so he was still getting used to this body. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. Oh, this regeneration was clever! Before he could stop himself, he stood up and shouted._

"_What if we brought them back? All of the Time Lords that have died. They could help us win this, and beat the Daleks! What if we brought back Rassilon? He could lead us. He would know what to do. All we would need to do is each sacrifice one regeneration."_

_For once, everyone listened to him. They all agreed to do so, even Romana (who knew that in bringing Rassilon back, she would lose her status as Lady President). The Time Council also decided to resurrect The Master along with Rassilon. Although Theta wasn't very fond of the thought of bringing his old nemesis back, he knew it was for the best. The Master had always been a particularly good fighter._

_Once Rassilon was reborn though, things started going wrong. He was moved to the status of Lord President once more, but he was just as helpless as Romana. With the threat of Dalek invasion looming over their heads, there was only one solution that seemed plausible to everyone (no matter how cowardly it might be)._

_Run._

_And that is exactly what they planned to do. The only problem was that there were Daleks everywhere. They couldn't go anywhere without being noticed, especially not an entire species. That's when they decided to jump to a parallel universe. The original plan was to send The Master, Drall, a previous Lord President, and Susa, Theta's granddaughter, all lead by Rassilon, but Romana disagreed. She claimed that she wanted to be part of the action, but Theta knew that was a lie. She compromised with Rassilon, saying that she would stay behind if Theta would lead the group. Rassilon reluctantly agreed._

_They left Gallifrey, jumping to the parallel world, hoping to find an escape route in which the other Time Lords could come through. They planned on bringing their entire species over to the new universe, leaving their own to the mercy of the Daleks. They knew how horrible that was, but they were too selfish to care about the other species'._

_When they got to the other universe, they had no idea where they were. Rassilon had hoped they would land on the parallel version of Gallifrey, but they ended upon the planet of the stupid apes that Theta had so often visited .The Gallifreyans were at a loss of what to do, but soon enough, Susan noticed a blue police box that she recognized as the TARDIS that she had once traveled with Theta in, albeit, slightly newer._

_Theta, unsure of what else to do, walked up to it and knocked on the door._

_~End Flashback~_

"So…." The Doctor said. "You are a parallel me, planning to take over earth to save your species." He glanced over at River. "Typical day for me, huh?" He smiled, but turned back to Theta, suddenly serious again. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that."

Rassilon stepped forward. "Well it's a good thing you don't have to then." He pressed a button on the band around his arm. The Doctor caught the words "We'll be back" as Rassilon and the other Time Lords disappeared on the wind.

River turned to him. "Sweetie, I've been on adventures with you before, but I have to say, this is by far, the most complicated."

The Doctor was about to answer when a sudden squeal of tires on pavement, and the faint sound of the TARDIS materializing interrupted him. He looked around to see a Dolorean (that is an old model car) where it had not been just a second before. The door of the car opened upwards, as opposed to sideways, like a normal car.

The Doctor squeezed River's hand as a very familiar blonde, and a man with spiky hair and a trench coat stepped out.

**YAAAY! I'm done! I really hope you like it. Just to clear a couple things up, when I say the woman in white, I am talking about the woman who kept showing up during The End of Time. The one who talked to Wilf through the TV. There are speculations that she is either Susan or Romana, and since I already had Romana, I decided to make her Susan. Now, for those of you who don't know, Susan traveled with the first Doctor, and is his granddaughter. Romana is a Time Lady who traveled with the Fourth Doctor. If anyone has seen any episodes with Romana, and feels like correcting the way I wrote her character, PLEASE DO! I don't know very much about her other than the fact that she traveled with him and has dealt with a parallel Gallifrey before. In case you didn't figure it out. Theta's parallel Gallifrey was exactly the same as the Doctor's up until the point where Romana invited him back to help with the Time War and he actually stayed instead of putting the Time Lock on the war and burning everything. The last thing I have to say is about the Dolorean. It is a type of car with funky doors that open upwards. The reason I am using it is (A) so it is really easy to distinguish from the TARDIS, and (B) If you have ever seen Back to the Future, this is the exact same type of car that Doc turns into a time machine :D I'm sorry, but I could not resist putting it in.**

**I'm sorry this chapter is really complicated. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions about it. The next chapter will make everything even more complicated, but it will be from Rose or 10.5's POV, so be looking forward to that.**

**Thank you all for reading this. I'm really enjoying writing it :D I hope the next chapter will be up soon. I really, really, really, enjoy reviews, so if you liked it, tell me why in a review. If you didn't like it, tell me why in a review so I know what to fix so I can make it better :D**

**I love you all!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Okay, so here is my next chapter. I have to thank Rwy'n-Y-Blaidd-Drwg for reviewing. I'd really appreciate more reviews because it helps motivates me to write more. Every review literally makes my day, even if it is just telling me to fix something!**

**So this chapter is once again a bit confusing, but stick with me. I actually have a plot for the entire story. I kind of picture this story as my own little version of a season finale, which is why it is so complicated!**

**I also realized just now that I have been writing this as Third Person Omnipotent, which I don't much like, so from now on, I'm going to try to stick with Third Person limited to the Doctor's thoughts. If you don't have any clue what I'm talking about, then don't worry about it. **

**For those of you who don't know, there is a scene that was cut from the end of the Journey's End when the Doctor left Rose and 10.5 on the beach. In it, The Doctor gave them the TARDIS Coral, stating that it would take a really long time, but eventually 10.5 and Rose could grow their own TARDIS. Timelord/Donna then told them a way to do so within a short period of time. Russell T. Davies said it is safe to assume that this scene still happened, and that they cut it out for purposes of time. I personally have always wanted this to have stayed in the episode, so for the sake of this fanfic, I assume that it was in there. Their TARDIS looks like a Delorean instead of a police box though.**

As Rose Tyler and her Meta-Crisis Doctor stepped out of the Delorean, The Doctor felt a small stab of pain in one of his hearts. He had missed her, but he knew he had done the right thing, leaving her behind with the Timelord/Human Meta-Crisis. He imagined that she would have been furious with him for running off without a proper goodbye. Even then, he had known that if he had had the strength to see her off, he would have never have left. The Doctor had loved her too much back then. As it was, he had nearly started crying when she had kissed the Meta Crisis. Ha! He chuckled to himself. He had been so hopelessly in love. At least back then, he had the mind to stay away from Rose. He knew that she had been his biggest weakness, which is why he never crossed that line with her. It wasn't like he was oblivious to the fact that she loved him back. He knew all about her love for him, and suspected she knew about his. But they were both smart. They stayed friends because he would hurt too much when they inevitably got separated, or she started getting old. To actually be romantically involved with her would only make the pain worse. This Incarnation had much less self control than his last. He loved River now, more than he could possibly say. The only difference was that, although River knew it would eventually end, she decided to make the most of it. The Doctor told himself that he was only giving in because he didn't want to hurt her, and because he wanted to make up for her horrible life and show her that he didn't care how many times she had tried to kill her. But it was all a lie. He gave in because he loved her, and all the other things were merely truthful excuses. After all, he had married her.

"Miss me?" Rose's voice distracted him from his thoughts. A wide grin spread across the Doctor's face as she ran into his arms. He was filled with love, but for once, it was only friendly love. River coughed and he turned his head and stuck his tongue out at her, still not letting go of Rose. Too bad River had seen some of his previous adventures. If she hadn't, she wouldn't know about Rose and how he had been so painfully obvious about loving her. But River trusted the Doctor, and knew him well enough to see he had finally gotten over Rose. River sighed and he finally let go. The Doctor noticed that Rose had not been surprised by River's presence, but the thought slipped his mind when the Meta-Crisis Doctor walked up to Rose and took her hand.

"Hello me" The Doctor greeted him.

"No, I'm not you" The Meta-Crisis said seriously. "You left her on a parallel universe. I would have never done that, even if it was for the best. She sobbed for days afterwards" Rose blushed a bit at this. "So I changed my name. I couldn't be the Doctor. I committed genocide, but she taught me that every life has value. Even after that though, I still wasn't you. I can never live up to that. So I changed my name to John Noble. But you probably figured that out on your own, didn't you? You regretted having left her there, and knew I would find your fault and change my name!"

Rose leaned up and pecked him on the lips."Yep! Still over thinking every little thing just like you used to. One of the reasons I love him so much!"

John seemed to lose his train of thought with this comment. "But I suppose, in a couple of months, I'll be John Tyler anyways, so it doesn't really matter all that much anyways."

The Doctor grinned, his smile almost brighter than the John's. "Aww, you're getting married! I love weddings! Can I come? "River gave him the death glare and he hastily changed the subject. "You're looking especially…oh, what is a good word?" He thought for a moment. "I've got it! Supermegafoxyawesomehot!" the smile returning to his face. John just stared blankly at him. The Doctor frowned inwardly at the fact that one of the greatest parodies of all time didn't exist on Pete's World. He was amazed at how young John and Rose looked. "How long's it been anyways?"

"Well, it took us ten years to grow our TARDIS to the point where she was actually able to function. She's still not fully done growing, but …"John trailed off.

"He couldn't wait to get away from a domestic life" Rose finished for him. "You should have seen him! Trying to avoid all the paperwork at Torchwood! I swear, if he wasn't half alien, he would have been fired the second he stepped into that office!"

John pouted, but Rose leaned against his shoulder and he continued. "Anyways, we traveled around for a bit, saving the world from certain destruction. You know, the usual. The Chameleon Circuit was actually working for a while, but when we arrived in the 1980's, it got stuck as a Delorean, although I can't really complain. Now I can say we've got a car that's bigger on the inside" He smiled. "about five years after that, we were traveling through the void when suddenly, we sort of left the void, disappearing from time, like the first time you and Rose visited Pete's world. The only difference is, our ship didn't completely die out like yours did. She sort of adapted to the different Time Vortex of this universe. I'm pretty sure it's because she still isn't completely finished growing, so she was able to change her structure for this universe without using too much energy."

The Doctor was puzzled. "So how long exactly has it been?"

"19 years. For us, anyway"

"But you two don't look a day older! Surely you would have aged a little."

John and Rose looked guiltily at the ground, but before they could answer, a _very_ familiar voice came from inside of the Delorean.

"Hey John! Rose! I know this place is bigger on the inside and all, but can I please come out now? It's kind of cramped in here."

Oh, this will be interesting, the Doctor thought as a tall dark haired man wearing a military style coat stepped out of the Delorean, clearly not waiting for an answer. The Doctor stared in shock.

"When we fell into this universe, we knew there was something wrong. There has to be a huge rip in the fabric of the universe to be able to travel between parallel worlds. So we brought back up." John supplied.

"Hel-lo Doctor" The man who had stepped from the Delorean smirked. "I see you've regenerated since I last saw you. Looking good! And who," He stared at River, "is this beautiful lady?" He walked up to her and held out his hand. "Captain Jack Harkness at your service"

"Jack!" The Doctor warned, but pulled him into a friendly hug. "This is my _wife,_ Professor River Song, so keep your hands to yourself."

A young woman with long dark hair and bangs slid from the Delorean. "Oh don't worry. I'll make sure of that."She grabbed Jack's ear and dragged him over to stand by Rose and John. "I'm Gwen Cooper by the way" she said peeking around Jack. "I work for Torchwood 3 with Jack." Jack pouted, rubbing his ear.

"When you say back up, do you mean…" the Doctor started.

"Oh yes!" John shouted excitedly. People trickled out of the Delorean, all familiar, and some very unexpected. A dark skinned couple came first, the woman running up to the Doctor and hugging him with all her strength.

"Martha! Good to see you again! And Mickey the not-so-idiotic idiot!" He shook the man's hand.

Next came a young boy who looked about 17. He was carrying a small tin dog under his arm. "Hello sir, it's nice to finally meet you in person sir." The boy saluted and a look of recognition crossed the Doctor's face. "Luke Smith and K-9! No, no, don't salute. And call me the Doctor. Where's Sarah Jane? Oh! No! I'm sorry" he said quickly when Luke's face fell.

Then an unexpected young blonde in olive green cargo pants and a t-shirt skipped out of the Delorean. "Hello Dad!" she nearly shouted. The Doctor ignored the questioning glare from River as he hugged her. Jenny was one of the few people that the TARDIS had not been able to pull up files on seeing as she had never actually set foot in the TARDIS. After all, the Doctor thought she was dead. He resolved to ask her about it later when a dirty blonde in a t-shirt and jeans stepped out.

"Ace?" The Doctor was dumbfounded. He hadn't seen her in ages.

"Hello Professor!" She ran up to him and gave him a quick hug. "You've changed a lot since I last saw you. How do you feel about blowing things up…?"

The Doctor couldn't answer because he was too busy staring at the woman who was standing in the door of the Delorean. If he had been surprised to see Ace, then there were no possible words to describe his utter shock at seeing the ginger. He was at a complete loss for words.

"No, no, no, you cannot be here! Your mind should have burned, not that I'm not overjoyed to see you, but Donna Noble, you should be dead!"

"Oi! Watch it! I try to make an amazing entrance and of course you have to go and spoil it by telling me I should be dead! I'm clearly here, I clearly remember, and I am clearly not dead, so shut it!"

"But how come you're not burning up? And wait a second, how did you all know it was me? I mean sure, the blue box kind of gave it away, but how did you know it was me?" The Doctor asked, his brain finally catching up to him. He turned to Rose and John. "How did you two know where to find many of my old companions? And for that matter, how did you know where to find me? I could have been anywhere in the universe, but you just happened to pick the exact time that I run into an unsolvable situation? Not a soul in this universe other than the Ponds and River even know I'm alive, let alone my exact location. That can't be a pure coincidence, especially since you two don't seem to have aged a day in 19 years! And not a single one of you has yet to ask me what happened that caused the original rip in the fabric of the universe that let those two through in the first place!" The Doctor jerked a thumb at Rose and John. None of this was making any sense to him.

"That is because we already know about the Time Lords," John said quietly.

And with that, he pulled out a small fob watch with Gallifreyan engravings on it.

**AN: So yeah! I hope you like it. Once again, to clear a couple of things up: This is NOT an AU, so although John's fob watch may be important, it is not used in exactly the same way it was in season 3. Also I will explain the Donna situation in the next chapter, so hopefully it is not too confusing. Lastly, The Ponds will arrive soon enough. I really do like them, so I couldn't possibly leave them out, especially since I brought back Ace. I'm sorry I couldn't bring all his old companions back. It would have been way too complicated. And for those of you who don't know, Ace was a companion of the 7****th**** Doctor, who she always called 'Professor'.**

**Lastly, if anyone seems out of character, PLEASE TELL ME! I hate it when I do that! So review to your heart's content and tell me what to fix! I love reviews and find them really helpful. They allow me to know what I need to fix, and what is good, so **_**pleeeaaassseee**_** review. It really means a lot!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: IMPORTANT: Hello again. Sorry it's been such a long time. I swear I meant to update earlier, but it just sort of escaped my mind. I've been really busy, with the end of the school quarter, and I'm in a musical (Willy Wonka), so I've been uber busy. But the other thing is I have no inspiration. Sure, I have most of this story planned out, but unless I start getting feedback, I might decide to scrap this. Sure it is fun to write, but I have no proof that anyone likes it in the least other than the emails saying that so and so added it to their favorites or alerts (which I really appreciate by the way, so thank you to all who did that). Either way, I went back to reread my previous chapter only to find that the writing is crap, so if you enjoy it, please, please, please review! I really need the feedback. And if any of you have any good ideas for a chapter, add that too. I have a general idea where I'm going with it, but random details would be much appreciated. Also, I finally got a beta (TheFaceOfSacredBob), so there might be changes in the previous chapters, but it won't change much of the actual story line, just itsy bitsy details and stuff. Well anyways, it seems that I am ranting again, so I will just shut up now and continue with the story.**

The Doctor was utterly, hopelessly confused. The only other time he had ever seen a fob watch like that before was when he had been human, and when the Master had been human. But why John had one was a complete mystery. It's not like he had ever been a Time Lord to begin with.

"It's a bit complicated, as you can probably tell, but I'll try to explain the best I can. I know you hate not knowing things. Always have, always will." John explained. "I guess the best place to start would have to be Donna. Well, possibly the best place… Well, not the best place at all, but I'm going to start there anyways. So, after you left Rose and me in Pete's World, Donna started going insane. The Human/Time Lord brain would have conflicted with itself to the point of almost burning up Donna. So you wiped her memory, in hopes that the Time Lord part of her brain would go back to sleep. The only problem was, you couldn't make that piece of brain completely dormant, so if she were to remember you, that Time Lord bit would wake up and she would burn. That all is completely true, but there was one thing you could have never predicted.

"The TARDIS is a genius. Well, you already knew that, but you could not have possibly ever guessed that she understood Donna's predicament. The TARDIS understood what had to happen in order for Donna to not burn. Normally She would have just gone with it and let Donna forget, but Donna was different than the other companions that you've had. Donna didn't have the brain of just any old Time Lord, she had the brain of you specifically, because your brain is the only one she could have gotten from the DNA transfer because it was _your_ hand that she touched that I eventually grew out of. Since the TARDIS has a psychic link with you, She also has a psychic link with Donna, because you both have generally the same brain in a way, so She clearly would do everything in Her power to not lose Donna, at least not forever. And that is why, when you wiped Donna's mind and her body was in a weak state, The TARDIS went through each of Donna's cells and removed one homologous pair of chromosomes, specifically the pair that contained all of the Time Lord traits, leaving Donna with 23 pairs of chromosomes. Exactly like a normal human. That means that Donna was completely human by the time she returned home, and if she were to remember, it would no longer hurt her, because she no longer has the brain of a Time Lord. The TARDIS, having no place to store them, released the Time Lord chromosomes into the vortex.

"And that leads us to the subject of Rose and I. You see, as I said before, it took Rose and I ten years to grow our TARDIS. We had to nurture the Coral, specifically establish a telepathic link to it so we could tell it what to do and what to look like. Just as it is with your Psychic link however, The TARDIS can read our thoughts, but we can't read Hers. It's more like a hum telling us what and what not to do. The more important thing is that She can read our minds. She knows that I was a Human/Time Lord Meta-Crisis, and she knows how much I love Rose.

_~Flashback~_

_John and Rose were thrown against the metal grating of the Tardis floor as they had been so many times within the past few years, only this time, they weren't laughing. The room began to shake and jump like a hyperactive child, sending the pair rolling across the floor in a tangle of limbs. The shaking slowed to a dull vibration and John slowly stood up and wobbled to the console, trying to regain his balance, Rose on his tail._

"_What happened?" She shouted over the wretched sound of metal grinding up against metal. "I thought you were finally mastering the art of landing without sending both of us flying across the room. If you wanted to be on top of me that badly, you could've just asked." She gave him her famous tongue-in-teeth grin before wincing and clutching her head in pain._

"_You okay?" he asked over his shoulder, pressing buttons and pulling levers as he spoke._

"_Yeah, just a bad headache from that terrible landing of yours"_

_John pulled down the monitor attached to the console and stared at it, his eyebrows knit together._

"_That wasn't a landing. We're still in the Vortex, but the shields are down. Just hold on a mo while I-"He trailed off with the sound of the shields going back up. "Now, why would the shields be down? I don't recall doing that" Rose walked up behind him and took his hand. "That didn't feel like a crash landing, it felt like-"he checked the scanner again. "Remember when we first came across our universe on accident? Well… it seems that we've somehow accidentally landed back on our original universe…"_

"When Rose and I fell into this universe, our TARDIS was able to stabilize itself soon enough that it didn't completely die and fall out of the new vortex. However, when it was stabilizing, the shields around it were down, because the energy was focused elsewhere. The walls became weak, and lots of vortex energy seeped through. Luckily we didn't end up running into another you or something worse, but one thing did get through. The Chromosomes that were taken from Donna. They had nowhere to go, so naturally, they went back to the place they originally came from, me. Of course, my body is strong enough that the chromosomes can't just work their way into each individual cell in me. That would be impossible. So our TARDIS used a tiny bit of energy to direct them to the fob watch that resides in our TARDIS. If I were to open the watch, however, there would be nothing stopping the chromosomes from changing me into a full Time Lord, because that bit of energy used to guide them to the watch combined with the vortex somehow gave the watch the ability to change my biology when opened.

"But I couldn't open it. I didn't want to, because of Rose. She was human. If I were to become a Time Lord again, I would stop aging, and she would continue. That meant that she couldn't hold up her promise of forever. Of course I couldn't open the watch. I love her too much. So I didn't tell her about it, hid it from her. I honestly would have thrown the watch out into the vortex if not for the fact that tour TARDIS hummed a sort of approval every time I touched the watch, like She wanted me to open it. Then Rose started getting sick, and the issue of the watch moved to the back of my mind.

"Luckily, our ship had crashed in London, 3028, so we had access to some advanced hospitals, but no place could find anything wrong with her. She had a weak pulse, and said that her brain seemed condensed and cramped, kind of like when Cassandra had used the Psychograft on her when you two visited New Earth. I flew all across this universe, trying to find a way to make her feel better, but she kept getting worse. Soon it got to the point where she started saying that her head was burning. That reminded me of something she had said so long ago, and pretty soon I had a theory forming in my head, a theory that kept becoming more plausible with everything that happened to my poor Rose.

"I remembered back when she had looked into the vortex to destroy the Daleks and save you. Her head started burning from all the raw power, so you took it out if her. But what if you only took most of it out, and left a few Huon particles in her. They remained dormant and harmless, that is, until our TARDIS fell into this universe. What if, when the protection from the vortex was weak, and the vortex seemed in through the walls, reactivating those dormant particles, but this time, they developed slowly, changing her biology bit by bit. If my hypothesis was correct, Rose was slowly becoming a Time Lady due to prolonged exposure to the 'vortex' inside of her.

"Every time I thought of this, the TARDIS hummed a sort of approval. It scared me. If Rose's biology were to change, that would be excruciatingly painful. That and I would no longer be able to give her forever. And that is when I remembered the watch. I didn't want to open it, for fear that I was wrong. One day I went out to get some new things to make Rose more comfortable, but I ran into a couple of aliens. When I got back to the TARDIS, 3 days later, Rose was curled up in a ball in the console room, sobbing. I went over to her, asking what was wrong, a bit surprised to find that her pulse was strong and steady, and her skin a bit cooler to the touch.

"In response, she laid both of my hands on her chest. I immediately knew what was wrong. My theory was correct. The particles had built up enough that it was suddenly too much for her human body to handle. Her biology had changed completely, leaving her with two hearts. She choked out how she was so sorry, and she would stay with me, no matter how old I got. All I could do was grin. I pulled out the fob watch and explained it to her. I was so happy. We now quite literally had forever. I told her to go rest as I opened it, because I didn't want her to see me in pain, but she wouldn't leave me. I opened the watch, and the whole time I changed, couldn't feel the pain because I was so overcome by the thought of spending forever with her.

"After many days of rest for both of us, we set out. When I had become a Time Lord again, I was able to look into your mind. After 100 years of not needing psychic barriers, you seem to have lost them. That's how I knew about the Time Lords, and of course knew you needed help. I was able to pinpoint your location, and bring back almost all the people that could help us defeat them. And then I figured out about Donna thanks to the watch and our TARDIS and here we are"


End file.
